Understanding Cookies

What are cookies?

Let's be frank. You hear people talk about cookies all the time --no, not the chocolate chip kind, the internet kind. Everyone pretends to know what they are, cause who wants to look like an idiot? But let's face it - do you really understand them? Honestly, I'm not sure I'm there myself. But, I just wrote a short piece on them for class and I thought I'd share this batch : )

Cookies are small data stores that live on a computer's web browser. The browser will use cookies to store data about that user's web activity. According to the BBC's Webwise Blog:

When you visit a site that uses cookies for the first time, a cookie is downloaded onto your PC. The next time you visit that site, your PC checks to see if it has a cookie that is relevant (that is, one containing the site name) and sends the information contained in that cookie back to the site. The site then "knows" that you have been there before, and in some cases, tailors what pops up on screen to take account of that fact. [1]

This means that cookies can store info about the number of times you have visited a page, the length of time that you spent there, what links you clicked, and what types of browsers you prefer to use. This information can help make your user experience easy and more enjoyable by removing duplicate information, remembering favorite info, or giving you the content that you requested in a search.

Benefits

Cookies have enabled online shopping to expand through the use of a shopping cart feature that "remembers" desired items and "holds" those items for you, even if you exit the site. With a login feature that references info in your computer's cookies, you can return to that site and keep browsing with the same contents in your shopping cart.

The information captured through cookies can also provide key intelligence to inform brand-marketing strategy. By understanding what sites a user frequents, how often they visit, and where user's general interests lie, a company can effectively place ads. Ideally, the brand can target the user with ads for a product or item of interest and there is a higher probability that the user will actually click on the ad and generate revenue for the site host and the brand (if the user purchases the product).

This method of targeted advertising can be very cost-effective, as it matches marketing efforts with the targeted audience: an engaged population that is actually seeking the product and looking to fill a need. Cookies also give the brand a great advantage and insight into understanding user behavior. Cookies allow the brand to capture real time research data on the users interest, which can influence their entire strategy, constantly keeping an approach fresh and relevant.

Controversy

There is a downside to cookies, however, which is that users are often skeptical of the idea that information is being stored about them. Many feel that their privacy is infringed upon and this unease can affect a user's trust in a brand. Despite the fact noted by Larisa Thomason from NetMechanic that "Cookies cannot store any personal information about the user that the user doesn't voluntarily supply to the Web site,"[2]  people are still uneasy about the presence of cookies.

Some users dislike the idea of being targeted by marketing campaigns or having their web browser ads tailored to their interests. There has been some controversy over the legality of cookie use.  In the Guardian, Joanna Geary makes the "sneaky" function of a cookie clear:

The cookies that appear to cause the most controversy... are for managing the advertising you see on a website. This is particularly the case when websites set a cookie from a separate advertising delivery company. This cookie can record when and where you saw an advert, where in the world you might have been when it happened and whether you clicked on it. The cookie will send this information to the cookie owner, who records this data and uses it to make sure you don't see the same advert too many times.[3]

The consensus seems to be that cookies are harmless. For users that dislike the idea, there is always the option of blocking cookies-- which may make the web experience less fluid, as many sites do not operate well without cookies. Most sites have a cause within their "Terms and Conditions" that states that by using the site, you are agreeing to download the site cookies. A good site will also take the time to explain how the brand uses cookies and why they do so.

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[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-cookies

[2] http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol3/beginner_no5.htm

[3] http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/23/cookies-and-web-tracking-intro


This article is the part of a series of posts that I will make throughout my graduate studies in Marketing and Communications. With a focus on both healthcare and interactive marketing, I hope to gain a better understanding for effective health messaging--which I think plays a key role in a happy, healthy society. Please leave your comments or write to me: camorous@gmail.com.

Personal vs. Professional Brand Marketing

The potential ROI for internet marketing is astounding. For little to no cost, a company or individual can successfully market themselves on a global level through hundreds of web apps, social media channels, email marketing campaigns, and blogs (to name a few). This is an exceptional development and one that certainly levels the playing field between large companies and small businesses/nonprofits. The power to increase visibility and the reach of their message or brand is exponential.

The laws of both Moore and Metcalfe attribute to this. Moore's Law states that every 18 months processing power doubles, while cost remains the same. Metcalfe proposes that the value of a network grows by the value of N squared, when N = nodes (devices or users connected to the network). Cookies (more on these later) contribute greatly to the processing power of the internet, as networks like Facebook become wiser about the interests of individual users, enabling customized advertising and more direct marketing. At the same time, however, it is important to utilize internet marketing in a strategic manner. This is where the difference lies between personal and brand dialogue on the web.

Over time, I have come to realize that with the internet, sometimes "less is more." As a healthcare marketing professional, I always want to be aware of developments and understand how people are using sites -- but this doesn't mean that I jump on the band wagon and create an account for my company immediately. Sometimes, it is better to observe from a distance. Not all social sites are successful and it is important that you check out a site, before choosing to create an account. Affiliation = endorsement and in order to protect your brand, you have to implement a strategy for which sites you choose to use and scout things out in advance.

The difference between a personal account on Facebook, for example, and a brand page is substantial. Personal accounts are often used to share personal info (duh) about relationships, emotions, and daily life in a casual manner. Where this can be a very friendly, inviting approach to online interaction, it is not appropriate for a professional entity or healthcare organization. On a daily basis, I observe how my friends and family manage their personal accounts on Facebook, Twitter, or other social networking sites. Many people do not give much thought to how what they say on their page or sharing private information. They say what they want, to whomever they desire and they don't worry too much about the repercussions or how they appear to the outside world.

Professional brands cannot afford this luxury; they have a reputation to uphold and an obligation to their clients, investors, etc. The need for careful monitoring and clear strategy is especially true for healthcare organizations or hospitals, as they have a very high standard to adhere to and must follow protocol to protect patient confidentiality, in line with HIPAA. How can hospitals and healthcare orgs use social sites? I will discuss this soon in an upcoming post, but here's the short and sweet of it: healthcare orgs can use social media to share important health messages, improve visibility, market programs and services that they provide, and offer a place for dialogue. However, the web is NOT a place for medical diagnosis, clinical care or instruction. There may be some hospitals that employ secure chat rooms or LIVE interaction where patient health info is protected. Facebook is not one of these places -- yet.

Moral of the story: with the development of so many new technologies, it seems that the possibilities for interactive marketing are endless. A small company or program can gain a large national presence through the internet in a very short amount of time. Through Google and other search engines, brands can find out exactly what their clients want and put their product right in front of the target audience, satisfying both parties. However, without proper application these powerful tools can do more harm than good. It is important for a brand to set in place proper protocol for both internal and external internet marketing policy (including one specific to social media). The brand must consider what sites or apps it chooses to use and how these efforts will integrate into the overall marketing strategy.

This article is the part of a series of posts that I will make throughout my graduate studies in Marketing and Communications. With a focus on both healthcare and interactive marketing, I hope to gain a better understanding for effective health messaging--which I think plays a key role in a happy, healthy society. Please leave your comments or write to me: camorous@gmail.com.

Are we like the People of Panem?

For those of you with a PR day job, you must understand this sentiment: I come home from a long day at work and bask in the freedom to browse the internet for the fluffy stuff. I spend my 9-5 day staying up to date on hospital policy, clinical care, and research studies. In the evening, I ride the social wave. Interestingly, more often than not, my evening reads connect back directly to my day job. Several weeks ago, the hot topics on the internet were: the #HungerGames and #HealthCareReform.

Ever since then, I've been itching to dig into the on-going health care debate, especially after listening to a very compelling piece that NPR did several weeks ago on the second day of Obamacare hearings for the US Supreme Court. So for a moment, let's talk universal health care reform and then maybe we can get to the Hunger Games. 

I understand the reason for all of the hype. It's a big deal for the government to try to mandate something like health care, passing a law like this would set an impressive legal precedent. Even if one argues that the mandate would not infringe upon the constitutional rights of American citizens (which it could, the Supreme Court Justices have yet to determine this), it could also open the door to future legislation that crosses farther over this line. But here lies the problem: health care is essential to life and not everyone can afford it. Does everyone deserve it? I think most would agree that the answer is yes, but there are so many other factors at play here that add to the complexity of the issue.  The largest of which, I think, is freedom of choice. 

What's more interesting to me at the moment, is how the American public is reacting to the Supreme Court Hearings. So my thought is, let's take it to the people and see what they have to say via Twitter: 

@Vision365 @darbus69 it is your RIGHT to work and pursue thosethings you want, such as healthcare. I choose not to buy insurance.

Good point. RT “@BorowitzReport: Americans should not be forcedto spend money on healthcare that they could be spending onguns.”

RT @KateClinton: Shouldn't Supreme Court judges who havehealthcare recuse themselves from this case?

Dumb tweet of the day MT @Jimi_We If SCOTUS kills ACA allAmericans should refuse to provide healthcare for congressmenand SCOTUS.

Hands off my Healthcare! We need #Obamacare!

Why don't we apply successful principles of Internet (transparency, choice) to health care? http://bit.ly/GZ7GoR 

Healthcare going down? Back 2 millions being uninsured. RSupremes makg that the American way? Canucks think we're nuts! 


So single-payer healthcare not only would have been cheaper & more equitable, but it also would have been more legally resilient.

Read the above (just a small sampling of one night's discussion on Twitter). To sum it all up: people are uneasy about change. That's old news, but, is it just the element of change that poses a threat? No, people are concerned about putting their own health in jeopardy. For this reason, we have been teetering on the edge of health care reform. We want to take the plunge, but we are scared of the consequences.

The fight over health care reform is just like the Hunger Games. The government has nurtured a society that promotes the Games (universal health care) and encourages tributes to fight to the death (provokes citizens to a place where they feel trapped); without freedom of choice. Each tribute, just like each American citizen, wants the chance to choose life (or medical care), without having to take it from their friends and peers. Therein lies the problem: when the government takes away their choice, they feel forced to protect themselves and they become animals - caring only for their personal well-being. It's survival of the fittest. They no longer trust the men and women in power.

Americans are caught between a rock and a hard place. Altruism is a strong force within democracy and they want to provide medical care for everyone, but they do not trust #Obamacare. People are too afraid that, like the Hunger Games,  the system is rigged; that when they really do get very sick, they won't get the timely, high standard of care that they need and feel that they deserve. And it may be a matter of life or death. Acts of kindness and universal health care may risk the loss of their own quality care. Like so many things in life, it all boils down to self preservation, as the Tweets above show. People are suspicious. Just like in Panem, they do not trust the government to make these decisions; this can cause a great deal of unrest and unhappiness in the nation. 

In MA, we pay a high percentage of our annual salary to healthcare benefits, as the result of the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Law (2006), implemented by Mitt Romney during his time as governor. For many single workers, like myself, this translates to 1/3 of my monthly pay check - a high price to pay. I am rarely sick enough to need medical attention, so this number does feels unjust.

I understand the resentment towards #Obamacare. However, this is no excuse for neglecting those who need medical attention. So what do we do? What if Americans want both free choice and universal health care? Can we have our cake and eat it too, or is this one big Catch 22?

State of Media State of Mind

With a couple other blog posts in the works, I feel silly starting yet another one; however, I am struggling to get my ideas out on paper right now. So this will have to do.Writer's block? Maybe, but it's more that I am out of practice writing freely like this. I have been working in Communications, editing and perfecting messaging, for so long that I am finding it hard to put my raw ideas down on paper.

 

Last week, I finally finished reading the PEW Center for Research State of the New Media 2012 report. It's long and full of detail, looking at the media world from all different angles. Worth reading if you are interested in the topic and have a long bus ride ahead of you. It's not one of those reports that you can squeeze into the five minute time slot  that you have between morning meetings.So, what did I learn?

 

1. American consumers are relying more and more on technology for their news. Mobile apps, ipads, and laptops make news acquisition easy, mobile, and customizable. No longer do we have to stay chained to our desks to catch up on emails or the daily newscast on TV. Instead, we can decide what news is relevant to us and determine how often we want personal updates sent right to us. Now wherever we go, we are always informed.

 

2. TV has experienced an increase in viewers and revenue for 2012 - even though newspapers continue to decline. We have been hearing about the inevitable death of print journalism for the past decade. When I enterred college back in 2006, I remember wondering if I was exploring a dying industry. All fingers pointed towards the new digital world of news, thus condemning the old fashioned newspaper to an early grave. However, I am not sure that this will be the case. It is encouraging to see that broadcast journalism has found a way to harnass JO, perfect example being the New York Times.

 

The success of online newspapers will depend upon the effective monetization of the print news medium. This is a problem that print outlets have grappled with for some time. Although I have no perfect algorithm to offer up (I'll leave that to the computer programmers and mathematicians of the world), I do notice some of the more effective methods that the NYT has applied as it goes digital. I will only mention a few: slow transition to paying for online news, free articles per month to encourage subscriptions, offering a diversity of mobile app options to fit consumer's needs, and increasing newspaper SEO to better utilize their online platform. All of these things can lead to a smoother transition and integration to the digital world.

 

The young professionals from my generation are not against print news. I believe that quality content still reigns over sensationalist jargon. It's all about how you present the news; the more accessible you can make the interface, the better it is for readers/viewers. No one minds a makeover (one could argue our society is obsessed with them).

 

3. News remains very important to Americans; in order to stay informed, they are using mobile technology to access articles and stay informed 24-7. I check the NYT.com website at least three times a day (as often as I brush my teeth). I suppose that news checking would be a habbit for any PR/Communications professional, but my actions also stem from an innate desire to know what is going on in the world. If I was tweeting right now, I might link this directly to the #AmericanDream. We live in a society where we are free to ask questions and we have the right to know the truth about healthcare discoveries, our ruling government, and world events. This innate desire to self-educate will be the milk that keeps the news industry alive. Of course, trust factors into this equation as well (trust between the American public and the media), but I won't go into that now. My point is: as long as we are curious and demand news coverage, the media will have a role to play in our society.

 

4. Technology and News industries will have to either team up, or battle it out. The teaming up part does worry me - large conglomerates and all that jazz. This was another topic that I studied during my time at BU. As it happens, I have the perfect example of this from today's CNN Money headline news: "Facebook Acquires Instagram for $1 Billion." Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest, MySpace, the Google+, and Facebook are some of the top 15 social media websites that are leading the online media industry at present. In many ways, these power houses have a huge influence on the future landscape of the media world. Without these online forums, newspapers' reach would be much smaller and the speed of global sharing would be impossible. Social media plays a key role in driving traffic to sites, after that it's up tothe site and the content as to how long the user's interest is held. For this reason, many predict that - not unlike big media buying small media- social media sites like Facebook will continue to buy out smaller successes, in order to consolidate power. It may be a stretch to say that these companies will go as far as buying out big media like the BBC and CNN, but this remains to be seen. Already, social media is teaming up with news orgs to host shows and newscasts.

 

Although I call myself a social media nerd, it is a bit scary to realize that someday my raw news could come from the same place that people post about their daily activities (i.e. GTL BRB)-  a place like Facebook or MySpace.

How to make Vacation "Work" for You

Let's face it: vacation is not everyone's cup of tea, especially for those Type-A personalities that are always checking items off "To-Do" lists (ahem, ME).

I recently I headed out of town for a week in the midst of an extremely busy spring schedule. If you work in PR and Marketing, you probably have a pretty good idea of the type of fast paced environment I was leaving (and shouldn't have been). I made myself sick with worry, finished as many projects as humanly possible, and then set my out of office message. Done deal - I was going, like it or not!

My boss told me not to check my email while away; my boyfriend told me I needed to have fun and "chill"; but my mind told me to stay on top of my game. How could I possibly do all three things, simultaneously, and still relax? I think I found a way. Instead of forcing myself to read only Glamour magazines and sit on the beach for hours on end bored out of my mind, I found small ways to "creatively" work and I discovered some new joys to my job and my outlook on life. I'd like to share a few...

- Enjoy making valuable connections, while relaxing by the pool. You never know who you are sitting next to and what insight they might have into your industry. Who knows- this type of networking could even lead to your next job, someday.

- Remove yourself from "Work Mode." My boss was right. Turn off your blackberry and put away your laptop. The whole point of vacation is to change your routine and do things differently. If you are checking your iPhone every three minutes for missed emails, that's not any different than sitting at your desk on a normal work day.

- Let nature inspire you. Wherever you are (Grand Canyon, British Virgin Islands, Paris), take in the view. Sit back, drink a cup of tea, and notice the world around you: the little things that you don't get to appreciate when in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life back home. Hear the sound of birds singing, breath in the fresh smell of clean laundry, or feel the smooth surface of a cold stone step under your bare feet. These are the things that make life seem luxurious - no matter where you are.

- Finally, take a quick peek at the fruits of your labor. Don't cheat and go back to sending work emails, but instead acknowledge the hard work that you have put into every aspect of your job. Pat yourself on the back, knowing that appreciating yourself will help ensure that this vacation is truly restful. You will return to the office with a whole new energy and drive!

Email thoughts/comments to Catherine at camorous@gmail.com.

Time for a Change

It is a new year and a new era for me. This blog has tracked my progress in the field of Journalism from the very beginning of my tenure. However, the time has come to take this platform (a rather holdge-podge of articles and memoirs) and turn it into something more targeted and mission driven. That being said, I am not abandoning my work...you will still be able to search back through the archives and find my early writings.

Now...the transition. Moving forward, I would like to dedicate this space as a canvas for reflection and sharing insights into the world of social media management. The key to successful social media campaigning (especially for a nonprofit) is the ability to stay abreast of the latest discoveries, and to make your own and to share them. This collaborative environment stems from Mark Zuckerberg, himself, and the Facebook philosophy of open information interaction. Instead of keeping his product a secret, Zuckerberg has attempted to make Facebook available to anyone who has an interest in exploring the network. The Facebook backend, templates, and profile fields are open to everyday users and developers, alike, to develop ideas and expand upon their platform as much as they desire. This democratic approach sets a precedent that allows for positive feedback, and sharing of information that leaves the user feeling valued and empowered. I believe that this cultural change does not discount the need for careful monitoring of social media sites and a continued effort for brand name protection, but it broadens our horizons in a world where a narrow perspective on life, limits opportunity. Well done, Mark.